Somewhat new of a Dhalsim player here, but been maining him for the past couple weeks to change things up.
Have been player matching against a VERY good claw player almost daily. It’s a very tough match but after something like 50 sim vs. claw matches I’ve learned quite a bit I could share:
Unlike most match-ups where I’m zoning people out, I feel like you need to take the fight to Vega more than you usually would, especially early on. Standing medium P and K are your good friends.
Standing back to play Yoga Fire games will give Vega Cross-up Wall dive opportunities. After landing a couple of those be prepared for fake cross-ups too. I don’t even like to get in this situation so if Vega doesn’t approach me first I slide in and start to poke asap.
Now talking about Vega’s Wall dive and EX dive, i’ll tell you what does and doesn’t work because I’ve experimented with it all:
The best solution I’ve found to evade AND punish is short or medium slide. These get me far enough and fast to about mid screen if I start when Vega jumps to the wall and it works out one of two ways. One, he goes for the dive and misses, has this recovery step jump where i can s.hp him. Two, he FAKE dives and goes down on his side of the screen with the same result.
Usually scenario two only happens because I’ve been jumping mp stuffing some of Vega’s wall dives. Jumping MP is a great way to stop some of them but don’t use it near as much as your slide because they can get you hit by an EX and possibly get you into trouble with the bait game.
Teleporting, kind of works, but not my first choice. If I do it too late and he is already crossing me up I pretty much stay in the same spot and still get hit. Even if I do teleport safely out there is no chance for punish!
Also EX Blast does NOT work, comes in too high and will get you crossed up everytime
A WORD ABOUT FIREBALLS AND VEGA
I use them very early in the match and SPARINGLY after. As said before, if Vega has revenge meter and you throw a fireball from ANYWHERE you WILL get hit by his Ultra. So Vega revenge meter = NO fireball. Have gotten hit by EX Dive the same way by being too close and chucking fire.
Also, I have gotten myself hit by EX wall dive by walking back and forth. Had to force myself to be deliberate in my forward progess as I walled in Vega. Wiggling back and forth while watching for what Vega was doing and NOT what I was doing got me hit by EX dive because it is so fast.
When you slide in and put the pressure on USE YOUR BACK LK and MK!!! They stuff a lot of vega attacks, no reason not to. I find myself not using them near as much as I should, and when I get a few satisfying stuffs on him in close quarters I always think Why am I not doing that more?
so those are my few random thoughts on Vega, if you are on PC msg “sticky icky gooey” or “sticky ickey gooey” for a good vega match